Necrosis
by Pyro Flare
Summary: Mayuri, sick of the Soul Society, shows his hate by creating and unleashing zombies upon it. However, not content with just the destruction of the Soul Society, he also sneaks a few into the human world. Rating might go up in future chapters. Chapter 6 up
1. Chapter 1: Debriefing

**DISCLAIMER:** I own nothing of Bleach. Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo. The only characters that belong to me are useless NPC-like people.

Well, here it is. My first Bleach fic and my second zombie one. Since it _is_ a zombie story, it's rated T for the usual zombie stuff. There's not much else to say, but enjoy.

_Also, if you read this, please take the time to review._

* * *

Necrosis, Chapter 1:

Ichigo was staring out a window as he sat at his desk in school. He saw other students outside walking into the school, for school hadn't started for the day. Many thoughts were running through his mind. Ever since they saved Rukia from the Sokyoku and went back to the human world, leaving Rukia behind at her request, it had been rather peaceful. Too peaceful. It was like everything involving spirits had mysteriously vanished. Ichigo had neither seen nor detected any kind of hollows anywhere in Japan for the past three weeks. Could it be an ill omen? Was something horrible going to happen? After all, Aizen did leave with that thing that was in Rukia... was he going to do something with that?

"Is something wrong, Ichigo?" he heard Uryu ask, "It's quite strange to see you thinking."

Ichigo turned and glared at Uryu, "Just what is that supposed to mean?" he growled lightly.

"Oh, lighten up, Ichigo!" Uryu smiled, "Something troubling you?"

"Yeah," Ichigo sighed as he placed his hand on his cheek, "It's just that nothing has happened at all for these past few weeks. You think it's a sign?"

Uryu pushed his glasses up, "I've noticed that and also thought about it, but our reactions to this odd peace is most likely paranoia. Just relax, Ichigo. I'm sure everything is fine."

Ichigo nodded, "Thanks, Uryu, I hope it's just that..."

The bell suddenly rang, signifying the start of class. Uryu nodded at Ichigo as he walked over to his desk. Ichigo resumed staring out the window. He _wanted_ to believe that it was just paranoia, but he couldn't help but feel that something horribly wrong was going to happen...

* * *

Mayuri was currently sitting at his desk in his office. His haori was hung up on the wall. He stared at a wall and scribbled on his desk with his unusually long and sharp fingernail. In his ears, he heard the continuous droning of the clock ticking every second. The grating noise was an explosion throughout the silence. Luckily, his mind was focused completely elsewhere.

Over the past few days, his mind kept drifting to his past. His life as a human, his life in The Maggot's Nest, his life as a captain. All had been filled with arrogant, ignorant, unintelligent, and unpleasant people. He was constantly plagued by stupidity of others. Science managed to help him relieve the stress they caused, but now the stress was too great for dissecting and inventing to relieve. This stress was producing anger, the anger producing hate, and hate producing an irresistible urge to lash out and remove the stupidity from the world.

It was time to do that.

Besides, if he waited longer, how much worse would it get? It would no doubt escalate. He was the most brilliant mind in the Soul Society! Few who dwelled were intelligent enough for him to tolerate, and currently his hate showed no exceptions. He even hated his lieutenant Nemu, whom he made with his own hands. It was her small smidgen of free will that irritated him. He grit his teeth as he made a long cut in his desk with his lengthy fingernail.

It was time... time to show the world his hate. But he needed a good enough way to show it.

When in doubt, he turned to human literature. Even though most humans were utter filth, some of them sure did have wonderful imaginations that provided him with interesting ideas. Almost immediately upon thinking of human literature, his mind turned towards the zombie. A wide grin spread across Mayuri's face. It would be greatly amusing to unleash a zombie outbreak upon the Soul Society! Yes, that would be his way of showing his hate to everyone. Mayuri stood up and began to pace around his office, thinking about the zombies.

They certainly would be rather difficult to make. He always loved a challenge, but would his rage-filled mind tolerate such a challenge? The concept of zombies had always fascinated him. The perfect soldier that didn't require eating, drinking, or rest. The perfect soldier that relentlessly pursued its prey and showed no hesitation, no emotion, no memories. The perfect soldier that felt no pain and could only be killed by destroying the brain (which would certainly be difficult for soul reapers, for decapitation would only cripple the body and using a blade to stab through a skull would be rather difficult). The perfect soldier that never killed, but recruited.

But they certainly had their drawbacks, too. They lacked intelligence and the concept of using weapons other than their hands and teeth (although the teeth would be an effective way to transfer the zombiism through bite, with the addition that zombies mauling and eating their victims amused him). One glaring problem was the speed of zombies. They could only walk with a slow shamble. While such speeds might work on terribly stupid humans, soul reapers could easily flash step away. Plus, soul reapers could also focus spirit energy underneath their feet to hover around, effectively making the zombies pointless. Such glaring weaknesses that needed to be taken care of. But how? Creating zombies that could run or flash step could fix the speed problem, but the hovering problem would require a completely different method...

Mayuri made a tight fist as he grit his teeth. This was certainly bothersome. He could simply find a different method of showing his hate, but he was so set on this method. He couldn't swap out ideas now after he had thought this much into it!

"Are you angry, Captain Mayuri?" he heard a familiar voice ask. Mayuri turned around to see Gin Ichimaru standing there, his fox-like face looking right at him. He was wearing a white outfit somewhat similar to the robes soul reapers wore, but it was different.

"Well, isn't this odd? Why would a certain traitor come back to the Soul Society? And to, of all people, me?" Mayuri asked, his face blank as he looked at Ichimaru.

"I suppose I'll get right to the point," the silver-haired ex-captain said, "Aizen sees usefulness in you. You hold a position of power in the Soul Society, yet you are the most reclusive and, for lack of a better term, _evil_ of the captains. Aizen told me to come and try to recruit you as a spy of sorts, since he knows of your hatred towards the Soul Society."

Mayuri listened to Ichimaru's explanation as he searched through various filing cabinets and shelves throughout his office, making quite a ruckus.

"It would be quite fun if I could create zombies and unleash them on the Soul Society, wouldn't it?" Mayuri stated as he searched through his office.

"Well, I suppose..." Gin said, slightly confused. There was a brief pause as the initially absurd remark ran through his head. A wide grin appeared across Ichimaru's face, "Why, yes! It would be quite fun indeed!" he enthusiastically exclaimed.

Mayuri found what he was looking for: a large notebook. He took a pen, flipped to near the back of the notebook, and started jotting down information. Ichimaru walked closer and tried looking over Mayuri's shoulder to see what he was writing down, but Mayuri kept shifting positions. He heard the sound of the pen across paper stop.

"Would you like to assist me in making the zombie outbreak a reality?" Mayuri asked.

"Yes, I'd be delighted!" Ichimaru quickly exclaimed.

"Good! Very good, indeed!" Mayuri said as he closed the notebook and put it and the pen on his desk. The grin on Ichimaru's face slowly fell and turned into a frown.

"Hey! You tricked me into siding with you!" Ichimaru complained, a child-like quality in his voice.

Mayuri scoffed as he turned to look at Gin, "I'm already doing Aizen a favor by wiping out the denizens of the Soul Society! Plus, in a much more entertaining way than Aizen could conjure! If you side with Aizen, you should be thankful enough to help me achieve this goal."

Gin's expression became puzzled, "I'm not so sure about this... I'll have to ask Aizen. If you could hold for a moment..."

Ichimaru opened a garganta and went inside of it, being careful to suppress the spirit energy it created so that none of the other captains could detect it. Mayuri stood there, motionless, as he awaited Ichimaru's eventual return.

* * *

Aizen sat at a table, the other espada seated around it as well. He took a sip of tea before the meeting officially began. Ichimaru suddenly emerged from a garganta and walked over to Aizen and whispered into his ear. He told Aizen of Mayuri's plan for a zombie outbreak and that he had agreed to assist Mayuri. Ichimaru leaned away from Aizen as he sipped his tea.

"Well," Aizen said to the espada, "it seems that the problem of the Soul Society will be eliminated by our good friend Mayuri."

Ichimaru nodded and left in the very garganta he emerged from moments ago.

"What!? Where will we get our entertainment now?" Grimmjow shouted.

"Now, now, Grimmjow, calm down," Aizen said, "I'm sure some of your brethren don't see this as mere 'entertainment.' If you want some 'entertainment,' there's always the human world. Besides, the few powerful spiritual beings in Karakura Town will need to be weeded out eventually; along with any other spirit beings they might find to assist them... Now, on to other manners..."

* * *

Ichimaru rearrived at Mayuri's office.

"Aizen has agreed to let you rid of the Soul Society," he said with a big grin. Mayuri chuckled to himself as he paced about.

He soon turned to Gin, "I'll need some live experiments," he bluntly stated.

"Oh, me?" Ichimaru asked, "Surely I'll be noticed if I wander about."

"Not to worry!" Mayuri exclaimed as he opened a door and searched around inside. He soon emerged with a black cloak and hat.

"This cloak and hat will mask your spiritual energy," Mayuri explained, "it was originally invented by the past captain of this squad, but I made some modifications. This specific cloak and hat will change the appearance of the wearer to reduce suspicion."

Ichimaru nodded as he took the clothes and began to put them on. His appearance changed to that of a normal soul reaper man. He smiled as he observed himself and noted that his appearance had changed. He began to exit the office.

"Wait!" Mayuri called out. The disguised Ichimaru turned to look at Mayuri, "The experiments need to be insignificant to the eyes of most soul reapers. After all, it would certainly be mysterious if, say, a lieutenant wound up missing..."

"Right..." Ichimaru said, his voice different as well, "I'll leave the seireitei through one of the gates and change my appearance to that of a commoner. Then I'll find some 'experiments' in Rukongai." Ichimaru then left the office.

Mayuri sat down at his desk again as he cackled lightly to himself. This would be so wonderful!


	2. Chapter 2: Experimentation

Necrosis, Chapter 2:

Ichimaru was currently prowling a reasonably nice section of north Rukongai. He felt confident in his ordinary soul reaper disguise. He stopped at a fountain and stared into its waters at his reflection. He looked like a completely different man. His fox-like face had been replaced with a nice, stern, but cheerful face with a darker complexion to the skin. His silver hair was now a dark raven black, and his eyes were an equally dark color. The full moon illuminated the otherwise dark night, and it added atmosphere to his reflection. He dipped his hands into the fountain, disrupting the image, and took a drink from it. He turned away and continued his search.

_Surely there has to be some folk wandering about at night..._ he thought to himself, _I don't want to resort to the rude method of barging into a house and taking an entire household..._

He thoughts were soon answered as he heard quiet talking in the distance. A devilish grin crept across Gin's face as he headed in the direction of the noise. It was coming from around the corner of the building in the distance of his vision. He flash stepped over to that building and peeked around the corner.

He saw a fairly nice park-like area, a young couple sitting on a bench. A man with short light brown hair and a woman with long black hair were happily holding hands and gazing into each other's eyes, conversing to themselves. Gin smiled. _My first victims,_ he thought as he casually emerged from the corner and strolled towards them. They were too focused on each other to notice the man walking towards them. Sure enough, they began to kiss.

_They're making this too easy for me,_ he thought with a slight smile as he approached them. He quietly removed his zanpakuto from the sash around his waist. He didn't unsheathe it, for he would simply deliver a powerful blow to their heads with the scabbard to knock them out.

He was right next to them. He could hear the smacking of their lips as they continued with their making out. Gin had to suppress chuckling at the convenience of the situation. He brought up the scabbard and slammed it down upon the man's head, instantly knocking him out. The girl's eyes suddenly snapped open, but they were soon forcefully shut by a blow to the head. He chuckled as he looked around the area. He saw a bush nearby that he could hide the bodies in. He drug them into the bush, making sure to cover them up. He had decided that he'd roam around this district; maybe a few of the surrounding ones, and find more people and bring them back to this bush. If the bodies were discovered, that wouldn't be a big loss. He would just try again the next night.

After a bit of searching, the number of unconscious people in the bushes was around twelve. There were an equal number of men and women, too. Gin soon frowned as an obvious but overlooked flaw in his method occurred to him.

_How exactly am I going to deliver these people to Squad 12 without being detected?_ he thought with a puzzled look on his face. The answer came just as fast as the problem then, _Suppress a garganta's energy and repeatedly use it._

As Gin was thinking, a group of ruffians were approaching him. They had noticed him taking a few people, and they followed him.

"Hey, punk," a big muscled man said. Gin was snapped out of his thoughts. He turned around to face to group. His head pivoted around as he looked confused.

"You couldn't _possibly_ mean me? You must be mistaken," he said to the ruffians, _There's eight... the big guy must be the leader..._ he thought as his hand approached his zanpakuto.

"Yeah, you!" the man indignantly exclaimed, "We noticed you 'ere kidnappin' people. That's our job! Get 'em, boys!"

"Shoot to kill, Shinso..." Ichimaru quietly muttered as he unsheathed his zanpakuto and pointed it at the men. The sword's blade extended and pierced the men between the eyes. It quickly withdrew and readjusted its aim before stabbing itself into the next man's eyes. Soon the eight lay dead at Gin's feet. Shinso's blade reverted to normal, and Gin twirled his sword around like a revolver before stopping and blowing on the tip of the blade, as if it were smoking. He then sheathed his blade as he gazed at the bodies of the ruffians.

_Hmm... would corpses work for Mayuri? Oh well, might as well bring them anyways..._ he thought as he opened a suppressed garganta. He left it open as he entered Hueco Mundo and opened another suppressed garganta that lead to Mayuri's lab.

_Not to shabby for my first night..._ he thought.

He returned and began delivering the bodies through the portals...

* * *

Rangiku knocked on the door of her captain's office.

"Come in, Rangiku," her captain's voice answered from the other end. She opened the door and entered.

"What did you want?" the short white haired captain spoke.

"Well, there have been reports of some missing people in Rukon. The reports began a few days ago. Twelve people go missing each night: six of them men, six of them women. Also, there's been the disappearance of a local group of thugs in North Rukon District 8," Rangiku said.

Hitsugaya closed his eyes and thought about the situation, _This is obviously the work of a soul reaper gone rogue. The thing that worries me is that we don't know if the missing people are alive... or if they're dead._

"Thanks for the information, Rangiku. I'll request a meeting with the other captains to see if any of their officers have gone missing, as I suspect that will be the case, and we'll find our culprit. However, keep me updated as well," Hitsugaya said, opening his eyes.

"Will do," Rangiku said as she left Hitsugaya's office, giving him a small wave as she exited the door.

* * *

Mayuri grinned as the moans of the undead entered his ears. The moans were like a heavenly choir to him. He gazed down upon the pit, eyeing his current collection of zombies. It had taken him three days to develop a parasitic spiritual creature that could create zombies. His eyes hovered over the eighteen living men, the eighteen living women, and the eight dead men he had transformed into the undead! Their soulless white eyes stared at him as their arms reached up in a futile attempt to grab him. Their moans were continuous and rather noisy despite being a good fifteen feet lower than Mayuri was. He was so proud of his miniature army!

Yet he was disappointed as well.

Despite his efforts, he hadn't perfected the parasitic spiritual creature. Not to mention that he felt that he lacked numbers.

"Gin?" Mayuri called out.

"Yes, Mayuri?" Ichimaru answered as he entered the room. He walked up and leaned up against the railing on the balcony that would prevent a fall into a painful death by devourment. He looked at the crowd of the undead below, grinning deviously.

"I _need_ more subjects!" he demanded in a child-like manner.

"But Mayuri, the Soul Society is becoming aware that people are missing," Ichimaru warned Mayuri.

"I don't care! I just need more subjects to experiment on this parasitic creature some more!" Mayuri responded.

Gin sighed as he stood up and turned away from the crowd of zombies. His signature grin returned to his face as a wonderful idea came to him.

"You know," he said, "You should put a few of these zombies in the human world. Just for the fun of it."

Mayuri grinned in a similar manner, "Why, that sounds most fun," he said, his thoughts trailing to the ryoka, "I thank you for the suggestion, but I need to remind you that _these_ zombies cannot run? They can only slowly shamble!"

"But Mayuri! These are _humans_ that will be dealing with these 'slow' zombies," Gin said. Mayuri turned around as he placed a hand to his chin in thought. He soon turned around.

"Very well," Mayuri said.

Gin grinned. He was very pleased. He opened another suppressed garganta.

"Let me get some," he said. He walked over and pressed a button on a wall, making a lift on their level go downwards into the zombies' level. Mayuri closed his eyes and focused, his spiritual energy spreading into a few selected zombies. He had made the parasitic creature able to obey commands from his spiritual energy. He opened his eyes, looked below, and sure enough, four zombies, three women and one man, were now standing on the lift. Mayuri pressed the button again, sending the zombies up to him.

"Now, go into that portal!" he commanded. There was a brief pause as the zombies did nothing, but they soon began shambling towards the portal. As they entered, Mayuri added, "Send them to... Karakura Town..."


	3. Chapter 3: Dawn of the New Earth

Necrosis, Chapter 3:

Hitsugaya entered the Meeting Hall. A few of the other captains were standing in the room. He stood and looked around the room, seeing a few other captains and Head Captain Yamamoto sitting upon his "throne." More captains began entering the room, until all ten captains and the three substitute captains were present. Yamamoto cleared his throat and spoke.

"As many of you are aware, this meeting was requested by Captain Toshiro," Yamamoto said, "I'm sure most of you know about the missing people in the Rukongai. Toshiro wishes to speak with you all."

Hitsugaya closed his eyes briefly before opening them. "I believe that the kidnappings are caused by a rogue soul reaper," he said, "have any officers from your squads disappeared over the past few days?"

After some silence and some murmurings amongst themselves, Izuru spoke up, "There are no missing officers in any of the thirteen squads."

Mayuri observed the meeting with great amusement. _It took them _this_ long to take notice of the missing people? Oh, I mustn't laugh..._ he thought as he held in his laughter and he tried to keep as straight of a face as possible. Just to add fuel to the fire, he decided to reveal the culprit.

"What if... the kidnappings are the work of Aizen's men?" he asked, sounding as innocent as possible without sounding _too_ innocent.

"Rubbish," Yamamoto said as soon as Mayuri finished his question, "I, or any of the other captains, would have detected a garganta in the Rukongai if they were behind things."

"Oh... just making a guess..." Mayuri said, trying as hard as he could to remain calm and not burst out laughing. Sometimes it was good having a senile head captain.

"Well," Byakuya said, "since none of our seated officers have gone missing, the culprit has to be acting in secret."

"Yes, that appears to be the case," Yamamoto said, "I hereby declare that all captains should keep a close eye on their squad members... since there is nothing more to be brought up..." there was a pause, and nothing was said, "...then this meeting will be adjourned."

The other captains started leaving. Mayuri exited the meeting hall and chuckled quietly to himself. They expected nothing, and once, or if, they figured things out, it would be too late for them...

* * *

Ichigo was walking home after an uneventful day of school. The walk home was equally uneventful. The entire day so far had been terribly boring. Ichigo sighed as he walked up to his house and opened the door. As soon as he stepped inside, his dad greeted him.

"ICHIGO!!" his dad yelled at him from elsewhere in the house. Ichigo sighed, wondering what he "did" this time. He dropped his backpack and took off his shoes and readied himself for his father's eventual attack. What he didn't prepare for was an attack from behind. He felt the familiar blow of his father's shoe to his head as he hit the ground. He quickly got himself up and looked at his dad.

"What the hell was that for!?" he exclaimed.

"WELCOME HOME, SON!" Isshin proudly exclaimed.

Ichigo growled and decked his father across the face.

"WOULD YOU STOP DOING THAT!? IT'S ANNOYING!" he shouted.

"I WILL NOT TOLERATE SUCH BLATANT DISRESPECT!!" Isshin yelled back as he headbutted Ichigo. The two began an all-out brawl between each other while shouting.

"Will those two ever stop fighting?" Karin sighed as she observed the fight from her seat at the kitchen table.

"Boys will be boys!" Yuzu cheerfully exclaimed as she continued making dinner.

"WILL YOU TWO CUT IT OUT!?" Karin yelled, standing up, as she leapt up and delivered a nice kick to her father's head, knocking him out for a little bit.

"Thanks, Karin..." Ichigo sighed in relief.

"Eh, shut it," she replied.

"Dinner's ready!" Yuzu exclaimed from the kitchen as she peered out of the room. She saw Isshin unconscious, "Oh..." Ichigo and Karin headed to the kitchen to eat,

After dinner, Ichigo headed to his room. Finally glad to be able to rest, he laid down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He thought of the uneasy peace over the last three weeks. Why would the hollows just stop coming to Karakura? After all, nearly all of the whacko spiritual nutjobs from Japan seemed to show up there, and everything was... silent. What about the other countries? Did they have this uneasy peace, too? That Aizen... perhaps he was plotting something? After all, he did go to the world of hollows... no doubt he was king of them by now. Was he building an army of hollows to wipe out the world?

_Ugh... stop worrying... it's probably all a coincidence..._ he convinced himself, _but... is it? I mean..._

"I'm boooooooooored!" Kon suddenly shouted. Ichigo sighed in annoyance.

"What the hell do you want?" Ichigo asked the lion plushie that had freed himself from Ichigo's closet. Kon made a little pose with one arm pointed to the sky... it was a bit familiar to Ichigo, but he couldn't recall the pose.

"I wanna see a movie!" Kon exclaimed, his eyes sparkling with wonder.

"Forget it," Ichigo said, quickly dismissing the idea.

"_Why not?_" Kon whined, dropping the pose as his mouth hanged agape in sorrow.

"Because you're annoying," Ichigo said.

"But... but... this movie is _awesome!_ Everyone wants to see it! I wanna see _The World of Night!_ It's supposed to be the super awesomest best horror movie ever! It'll have vampires, werewolves, zombies, other undead, general awesome monsters and demons, riveting action, tear inducing drama, heart wrenching romance, and with enough gory and jumpy scenes to scare you silly! Plus, the lead actor is _soooo_ cool, and the lead actress is a sexy beast!" Kon ranted about the movie.

"I _said_ forget about it," Ichigo said, obviously annoyed.

"B-but it's out in theaters today! And you could bring all your friends!" Kon pleaded.

"What part of 'forget about it' don't you get?" Ichigo said, "And how did you learn so much about the movie if you're stuck in that body?"

"Ah! That is part of the secret life of Kon!" Kon exclaimed, thinking of his late night internet surfing, "And can we go? Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, oh so pretty pleeeeease? Look, I'm begging! _Begging!_" to illustrate this point, he made several motions towards his begging pose when that particular pose isn't used for anything else.

"Will you shut up if I go?" Ichigo sighed. Kon's face lit up once again as he assumed his pose that Ichigo recognized as that of Kamina from that one anime that's name escaped him right now.

"Yes! The mighty Konmina prevails again!" he exclaimed passionately. Ichigo mumbled grumpily as he walked over to his cell phone. He called Orihime, Chad, Uryu, Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizuiro asking if they wanted to see the movie. After calling Mizuiro, he set his phone down and looked towards Kon, flashing him a grin and a thumbs up.

"Looks like we're seeing the movie!" he said, his spirits uplifted somehow.

"YES! YIPPEE! YAHOOOOOO!" Kon exclaimed as he literally jumped for joy.

"Wait, they don't allow stuffed animals in the theaters," Ichigo noted. Kon instantly stopped jumping for joy as he began bawling. Ichigo sighed, "I guess I can sneak you in..." Kon resumed his jumping.

"Will you shut up?" Ichigo asked.

* * *

Ichigo saw his friends standing there outside the theater.

"Where were you?" Uryu asked, "You're late!"

"I had to convince my dad that I could go by fighting him..." Ichigo sighed.

"Boy, your dad's _weird_," Mizuiro said.

"Tell me about it..." Ichigo sighed. Kon was wadded up and stuffed into his pocket. Somehow, he miraculously fit inside the pocket. Ichigo wisely decided to remove the pill from the plush so Kon wouldn't cause any trouble.

"Well, we're all here, so what're we waiting for?" Tatsuki asked. The group said nothing and entered the theater and ordered tickets. Mizuiro offered to buy the snacks and took everyone's orders. A few people went to the bathrooms, and the rest sat down on the benches. Once everyone was there (except Mizuiro), they began walking towards their theater.

"Maaaaaan, I'm so psyched!" Keigo exclaimed, "This movie is going to be _soooooo_ awesome!" Ichigo was instantly reminded of Kon. They entered the theater and sat in the middle, so they weren't too far and weren't too close. Orihime sat next to Ichigo. She was next to Tatsuki, who was next to Uryu, who was next to Chad, who was next to Keigo.

"Hi there, Ichigo!" she happily exclaimed.

"Uh...hey, Orihime," Ichigo said, "Are you sure you're ready for this movie? I've heard it's pretty violent at some parts."

"I'll be fine as long as I have everyone else here!" she said, adding a smile.

Ichigo looked over as soon as he smelled the enticing aroma of theater snacks. Mizuiro had entered the theater carrying an armful of snacks, and he was carefully trying to balance his way over to the others. Amazingly he kept all of the snacks nice and orderly when he lost his footing at one point. He sat next to Keigo and distributed the snacks. The lights dimmed as the trailers began. Ichigo then removed Kon from his pocket and popped the pill in his mouth. Ichigo immediately shushed him before he could do anything.

"Oh, you brought Kon?" Orihime asked.

"He's the one that convinced me to invite everyone to the movies," Ichigo said. Kon was too busy drowning in excitement and anticipation for _The World of Night_ as the trailers played, as was Keigo.

_Too similar..._ Ichigo thought, an image of both Kon and Keigo annoying him at once. He shuddered as he shrugged off the thought. The movie then started, and everyone went silent.

The movie was very good, and it was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. Ichigo and Mizuiro acted as normal movie goers would, while Orihime was squeamish and constantly buried her face into Ichigo's chest at the scary scenes, receiving comforting whispers of things such as "It's only a movie," and "It's okay, Orihime," from Ichigo. Tatsuki and Uryu were interested in every scene, except Uryu rolled his eyes at a few scenes that made little sense. Chad was, well, Chad. Keigo and Kon were awed by the entire movie experience. As the credits rolled, Ichigo quickly removed Kon's pill and wadded the lion plush back into his pocket, placing the pill elsewhere.

They left the theater and began walking to each other's houses as a group. After all, the movie had one scene that was unanimously scary, and they didn't want to walk home alone. As they walked, Keigo was incredibly talkative.

"_Man, oh man,_ that movie was _aweeeesoooome!!_ How did they manage to fit some many creatures into a movie and make it _work?_ Plus, they pulled off the horror, and the action, and everything else flawlessly! And that one part, where..." Keigo exclaimed. He continued with his praise of the movie, but everyone tuned him out. Ichigo was also reminded of Kon once more.

Everyone else was quiet as they walked, because it was now dark, and paranoia is at its peak when it's night after a horror movie.

"Man, I hope no vampires or werewolves attack us..." Mizuiro meekly said.

"It's just a movie," Uryu said. A loud crash scared him good, when it was just a cat exiting a trashcan. The group snickered at this.

"Just a movie, huh?" Tatsuki mocked, "Looks like you're more scared than the rest of us!"

"Am not!" Uryu retorted.

"Please stop fighting," Chad sighed.

"BOO!" Keigo suddenly shouted from behind Orihime, who squealed in fright. Keigo burst out laughing, "You should've seen her! She jumped at _least_ two feet in the air!"

Keigo was punched on the head by Tatsuki, "Cut it out!" she said.

The ruckus of the group was instantly silenced as they heard a loud scream of a woman from an alleyway. The group stopped dead in their tracks, too scared to act.

"...What was that?" Orihime fearfully asked.

"I-I'll go check it out," Ichigo bravely said.

"I will, as well..." Chad said. Ichigo thanked Chad as he turned to the others, "Stay here, everyone."

Chad and Ichigo walked over to the alleyway where they heard the scream. They peered into the alley and saw a woman down on all fours. A disturbing feeling came across the both as they wondered what she was doing. The woman was clothed in a pale yellow kimono... _very _unusual attire.

"Um, miss?" Ichigo asked the woman as he entered the alleyway. The noises that were being made stopped as she turned her head. Ichigo was taken aback, and he felt vomit in his mouth, but it didn't come out.

The woman was over the body of another woman, whose belly was torn open, some intestines dangling out and some more of the digestive system visible. The woman that was above the obviously dead woman turned and looked at Ichigo. Her mouth and hands were bloody; a strip of bloodied skin hanging from a tooth, and her black hair fell over one of her eyes. The other eye... it was devoid of all soul and emotion.

The eye was completely white.


	4. Chapter 4: Meltdown

Necrosis, Chapter 4:

Nemu was in her office, sitting at her desk, doing the usual paperwork a lieutenant had to do. She was having difficulty concentrating, as her mind was elsewhere. She was concerned and suspicious of her father over the past few days. He was so busy and he never seemed to have time to speak with her. He also looked and sounded incredibly frustrated. What was he up to? Was he behind the mysterious kidnappings? She didn't _want_ to suspect her father, but... there was a voice in the back of her mind telling her that he might be behind it.

She sighed as she stood up and took a break from her paperwork. She needed to clear her mind. It was wrong of her to judge her father so harshly. She stepped outside of the squad building and took a nice breath of fresh air. She heard pounding footsteps behind her. She turned around to see her father muttering harshly under his breath as he stomped into the building. Nemu frowned as her suspicious thoughts returned. Before she knew it, she was following her father.

She snuck behind him, being careful not to be seen as she masked her spiritual pressure. She became increasingly confused and suspicious as her father traveled to more restricted and specialized areas of the underground laboratory. He then opened a very secured door by typing in a passcode and using a fingerprint and eye scanner. She quickly sprinted through the door before it closed. She smirked to herself as she easily passed, because she knew her father was too arrogant to install cameras, for he assumed that an ordinary squad member wouldn't care enough to enter the door.

Her ears were greeted with the repeated ghoulish moans of several men and women from below. She peered from behind a corner and saw Mayuri looking down a balcony. Just what was he doing? There was simply a hallway between her and Mayuri. Could she sneak closer to see just what was down there without being caught? Nemu bit her lip tightly as she slowly walked forward. Mayuri was too focused on whatever was down there to hear her sandals make noises against the metal floor. She was close enough to see what was down there. She suppressed a gasp as she hurriedly retreated back down the hallway, trying to remain quiet.

Her father _was_ behind the kidnappings, and he turned the people into some sort of different creature! She was appalled, shocked, and afraid. What should she do? Would she tell the captains or would she remain loyal to her father? Why was she even _considering_ remaining loyal? She hated Mayuri! He never respected her _or_ treated her like a daughter! She was just a tool to him! She turned around to leave, but her heart soon sank.

She had acted too impulsively. She didn't know how to _leave_ this room now. She bit her lip in fear. She would surely be discovered eventually! She gasped as the door began to open.

She was greeted by the smiling face of ex-captain Gin Ichimaru.

_What is _he_ doing here...?_ she thought in fear. Her mind reached to conclusion, but she couldn't think properly as the traitor began to speak.

"Well now, it looks like we have a little rat!" Gin called out in a singsong voice as he quickly grappled Nemu and held her in a position where she was helpless. Mayuri turned around after Gin had spoken, and he looked insane with rage. He stomped over to Gin as he stared Nemu in the eyes. He harshly clutched her chin as he leaned in close.

"_What did you see? What are your motives!?_" Mayuri fiercely demanded.

"I... I..." Nemu stammered, "I won't tell anyone! I'll keep it a secret!" she pleaded as she began to cry. She had never seen Mayuri so angry!

"YOU'RE LYING!!" Mayuri shrieked as he forcefully pulled her out of Gin's grasp and walked over to the balcony. He raised Nemu above the pit. She fearfully looked down into the crowd of the inhuman things as they stared at her with soulless white eyes and gaping mouths. Their arms rose upwards as they futilely tried to grasp her. She felt Mayuri's tight grip loosen as she fell downwards...

"Oh, that's _brutal_," Gin said as walked over and looked down into the pit. Nemu's screams echoed through the room as he watched her get eaten alive by the zombies. Gin managed to smile even more at seeing this scene, especially when he saw a bloodied and wounded Nemu rise up as another zombie.

"Shut up..." Mayuri growled.

"Aw... what's the matter?" Gin asked in a mocking voice, "Is the wittwe boy angwee he can't get his pawasite wight?"

"I SAID SHUT UP!!" Mayuri screeched at Gin. Gin frowned at Mayuri.

"You know, it's not wise to yell at the only person helping you. Especially the one that took all of these people for you and the one that can use a garganta. Think of how much more difficult this would be for you without me," Gin said.

"Just... leave me alone," Mayuri sighed stressfully.

Gin sighed, "You're no fun," he said as he walked off, wondering how long it will take before people notice that Nemu was gone.

* * *

The woman slowly stood up and moaned as she shambled towards Ichigo and Chad. Her hair moved as she stood up, revealing that both of her eyes were white. Chad gulped and punched the woman in the face, sending her flying backwards onto her back. She made no sounds of pain as she lowly moaned and slowly got up once again. Ichigo ran up to the other woman and checked her pulse.

"She's dead..." Ichigo said sadly. He growled in his head as he mentally beat himself up. _Of _course_ she's dead, moron!_ he thought. He heard footsteps and looked up to see Keigo arriving.

"Guys, are you okay? Do you need back..." he said, but his words were silenced as he saw the scene before him. His eyes widened in terror as he took a few steps back, but his legs soon became glued to the ground.

The woman snarled as she lunged at Chad, who was in shock at what was happening. In self-defense, Chad smacked the woman across the face, sending her smacking into the brick wall. Her head cracked open as she fell, lifeless once more. Chad stood there, looking at what he done.

"Z-Zombies?" Keigo stuttered.

"I... don't know, but..." Ichigo said quickly as he stood up and walked away from the woman's body, "they're not real!"

"How... do you explain what just happened?" Chad asked.

Keigo walked over to the other two. He took a deep breath as he said, "We've got to get out of here if these _are_ zombies!"

"Keigo! Look out!" Chad called out. Keigo turned around as soon as the other woman sank her teeth into Keigo's shoulder. Keigo yelled in pain as the woman began chewing.

"NOOO!!" Ichigo cried out as he slammed his shoulder into the woman, sending her onto the ground. He stomped on her head as hard as he could, smashing it under his foot. All of the noises and sounds it made sickened him, but his mind was too panicked to perceive them correctly.

Everyone else walked up to the other two.

"Is there something wrong? We heard you yelling!" Tatsuki asked, but she, like the others, would soon become shocked as they looked upon the scene.

"I don't know how... I'm still shocked about everything, but..." Ichigo said, "...zombies are real somehow... and Keigo... Keigo was... bitten," he finished as he began to cry.

"W-What?" Mizuiro asked.

"Does that mean... we have to _kill_ him?" Uryu asked fearfully.

"But... he's our friend!" Orihime cried.

Keigo stood there, paralyzed with fear. A huge burst of pain suddenly surged through his body, and he made a low cry as he fell over. Ichigo quickly checked his pulse, and wailed in sorrow.

"...He's dead..." he sobbed.

The entire group was completely shocked. Everything had happened so suddenly, and their minds weren't fully able to keep up with the events that just unfolded. What would they do? What would happen next? Was everyone else safe? Did anybody else know? Where else was this happening? Those questions were just a small sample of the several that flew through their heads.

"L-LOOK OUT!" Orihime shouted to Ichigo. Ichigo turned around to see Keigo with white eyes. He growled as he lunged towards Ichigo, who instinctively stepped backwards. Chad ran over to the others and stood in front of them protectively, but he knew he wouldn't be able to attack Keigo.

"This confirms it..." Ichigo said quietly, "...zombies _do_ exist."

Mizuiro whimpered as he saw his zombified best friend shamble towards them. They had done so much together, and now...

Tatsuki sobbed as she suddenly ran off. Orihime called out Tatsuki's name as she chased after her.

"We have to leave..." Uryu said, "...none of us can kill him, and we need to live!"

Acting impulsively on Uryu's words, the four ran away from Keigo. All four cursed themselves as they thought of the possible consequences of their actions. By letting Keigo live, would they destroy the entire town? They spied another zombies as they fled, and they soon split up. Ichigo took a deep breath as he took a small break to let his legs rest.

_Well... we didn't _completely _fuck over the town..._ he thought as he began running home again. He soon arrived and threw open the door.

"WHY ARE YOU HOME LATE?" Isshin yelled at Ichigo. Ichigo ignored him as he ran up into his room. Puzzled, Isshin decided to leave his son alone.

Ichigo quickly entered his room and locked the door. He threw Kon out of his pocket, placing the pill elsewhere. He collapsed on his bed and pulled the covers over his head as he was lost for words. So many thoughts raged through his head as he lay there. He couldn't comprehend all of them... the events that had just happened were too much. He felt exhausted, both physically and mentally, as the thoughts continued their crescendo of turmoil. He closed his eyes and tried to forget things and to calm his thoughts, but it was futile. With much difficulty, he managed to fall asleep...

* * *

Ichigo awoke as a ray of sunlight hit his face. He got up and changed his clothes as the events that happened yesterday night echoed through his head. A quick glance of the clock revealed he hadn't overslept, and his first instinct was to check the news. He went downstairs and flipped on the TV, changing the channel to the News. They mentioned two violent murders of two women, but nothing else.

Ichigo sighed in grim relief, but he was still worried.

_Don't worry too much about it for now..._ he told himself, _...think about it... you're lucky you only lost one of your friends and that this isn't a full-blown outbreak._

He went through the usual daily routine, and before he knew it, he was at school. Once he stepped in his classroom, he noticed everyone else who was with him that night, and they all were silent and grim. Ichigo said nothing as he sat at his desk. Class soon began, and the teacher took attendance.

"Hmm? Keigo's absent?" the teacher asked. The other students murmured on how odd that is, since Keigo had a perfect attendance streak. The group tried to stay quiet and act as normal as they could, but it was so hard...

An announcement soon came over the intercom. The students all looked up at the speaker.

"A deranged murderer has entered the school grounds! Stay in class and do _not_ panic! Hopefully we'll get this under control," the principal said.

The other students began to panic, but the six who saw the zombies last night were frozen with fear. The students began crowding around a window.

"H-he just _bit_ Mr. Odagawa!" one boy exclaimed as the other students clamored over the scene. The six were even more scared at this comment. Tatsuki turned towards the other five.

"W-what are we gonna do?" she fearfully asked.


	5. Chapter 5: Beginning of the End

Necrosis, Chapter 5:

"Oh my god, look at the blood!" one boy exclaimed.

"Ew! What's _wrong_ with this guy?" a girl shouted.

All of the students except for Ichigo, Chad, Uryu, Orihime, Tatsuki, Mizuiro, and a few others were clamoring about the windows, watching the scene from above. The teacher, Misato Ochi, was getting fed up with the students watching the crazed attacker. She stood up, her low ponytail whipping about.

"EVERYONE, SIT DOWN AT ONCE!" she boomed. The students ignored their teacher's order, and her glasses fogged up with the steam coming out of her ears. She stomped over and pulled down the window covers while smacking the students with a ruler she brought over. She took a deep breath as everyone sat down reluctantly.

"Okay... now that everyone's sitting down..." Ms. Ochi sighed, "...we can calm down. There's nothing to worry about. They'll announce when everything is safe again."

Ms. Ochi then shook her head and sat down at her desk while the students began scooting their desks close to each other to discuss the situation amongst themselves, Ichigo and his friends being no exception.

"W-what are we going to do, guys?" Tatsuki asked in a hushed panic, "They're here! The zombies are here!"

"I'm scared! Are our families okay?" Orihime asked.

"Did... did we cause this by letting Keigo live?" Mizuiro asked lowly.

"Everyone, calm down..." Uryu said with a stern tone, "...worrying will get us nowhere. And Mizuiro, I know for a fact that Keigo was not the only zombie last night... there were others."

"But... I need to know if Tatsuki's or Ichigo's families are okay!" Orihime exclaimed. She pulled out her cellphone.

"Hey! Put that away!" Ms. Ochi yelled at Orihime, "I'm telling you, this'll all blow over! No need to start panicking!"

Orihime sighed and reluctantly put her phone away. Ichigo bit his lip, "I'm sure they'll be fine, Orihime..."

"What makes you say that?" Orihime indignantly asked, tears welling up in her eyes, "Are you just saying this to shut me up? I care about your families, since mine is gone now! Do you even care about your families?"

"We're not shutting you up... please calm down," Tatsuki said, "The news only reported the murders of those two zombie women. Nothing more. This is probably the first zombie that's attacked a building."

"What if... the zombies are elsewhere," said Chad in his usual stoic manner.

"I had a similar thought last night, but if they were elsewhere, I'm sure we would have heard of it through the news by now," said Ichigo.

At this moment, Chizuru wandered by the group. She didn't like seeing Orihime so scared and she was going to go comfort her, but her curiosity upon hearing Ichigo say something about hearing of something on the news distracted her from her first mission. What exactly did they know? That group... well, Ichigo, Chad, Orihime, and Uryu, always seemed to know lots of things that nobody else didn't. And now Mizuiro and Tatsuki seemed to share the same fear that those four had when the murderer entered the school grounds. What exactly was going on here? Chizuru leaned closer to eavesdrop on the group.

"A plausible explanation, but what if they are covering things up?" Uryu suggested, "What if this is happening all over the world?"

"We don't know for sure," Ichigo said.

Chizuru was now fully interested. She walked up to the six and stared at them oddly.

"Why exactly were you six so anxious before this murderer attacked? And how come your fear intensified as soon as you heard the announcement? What exactly _do_ you know?" she asked while leering at them suspiciously.

"Well..." Ichigo began, unsure of how to continue.

"It happened last night," interrupted Tatsuki.

"Tatsuki, are you sure we should say this?" Orihime anxiously asked.

"Yes... it won't hurt her to know the truth," Tatsuki said. She then continued, "Last night, we encountered zombies. That's.... why Keigo isn't here. There were more as we ran home..."

"Z-Zombies? Are you serious, or do you think that this is all... a big joke?" Chizuru asked, her indignation fading away to meekness as she analyzed the faces of everyone in the little group. Her lip then quivered as she said, "Well... if _Chad_ and _Uryu_ are even serious about this... I... and it would make sense with the murderer biting the teacher..."

Chizuru began to shake as she started to lightly cry, "What about my parents? What if they're..." she then began to full-out bawl. Chizuru's crying attracted the attention of Michiru, Ryo, and Mahana. The three girls walked over and began to comfort her.

"Chizuru, what's wrong?" a concerned Michiru asked, "You heard Ms. Ochi, it'll be all right..."

"No it won't!" Chizuru cried, "These guys saw it happen last night! Keigo became a zombie! Zombies are attacking us!"

Ryo instantly glared at the group, "For shame... making up stories to scare people at a time like this," she spat as she turned around and walked off.

"I believe you, Chizuru," Mahana said as she hugged her to try and calm her down. Chizuru did calm down once the girl's arms wrapped around her. She smiled and rested her head on Mahana's shoulder.

"Zombies? I'm not so sure about that... don't you think that's a bit far-fetched?" Michiru asked as she tilted her head to the side.

"You have to believe us. We saw it happen," Uryu said lowly.

"Keigo... he's gone," Mizuiro said as he looked down sadly and shook his head, "My best bud. Why would I lie about him dying?"

Mahana and Michiru were convinced at that moment. They then began to converse amongst themselves about their families and other similar worries. They were soon silenced when they heard screaming from the hallways.

"Everyone! Remain calm!" Ms. Ochi exclaimed as she stood up, ruler in hand, "and stay here! I'll investigate!" Despite her projected courage, a keen eye could observe her hands shaking more so than usual.

The group suddenly became very worried as Ms. Ochi approached the door and left the room. The other students continued to talk to each other, ignorant of the situation, as the zombies outside drew nearer and nearer...

* * *

Renji showed up at the gazebo in a park area in the Seireitei. He was there because Hisagi had requested an informal meeting of the lieutenants over current events. In this area were Oemada, Izuru, Isane, Momo, Tetsuzaemon, Hisagi, Rangiku, Yachiru, and Rukia. Rukia was probably acting as the Squad 13 lieutenant in this case, and Renji had expected Nanao and Chojiro to not show. Nanao was probably busy in her squad and Chojiro was always a tightass about things. The only oddity was the lack of Nemu, since Mayuri usually let her do what she wanted.

"Hey-a, Renji! You're late!" Yachiru exclaimed exuberantly as she waved at the spiky red-haired lieutenant.

"Well, that's because I never have enough time to relax at the parks to know where they are... it's a miracle Byakuya let me come here. The only breaks I seem to get are when I'm assigned to the human world," Renji said.

"Oh, please, you're just lazy," Rukia said with a small smile.

"Am not!" Renji retorted.

"Come now... we don't have time to bicker like children," Izuru said with a sigh and the rolling of his eyes.

"That's right. I've called you all here because I am concerned about Nemu's disappearance," Hisagi said, "it's not like her to suddenly up and vanish."

"You think that it's tied in with the missing persons case?" Rangiku asked.

"Yes, I do," Hisagi said as he closed his eyes.

"...Because of Captain Mayuri's recent seclusion as well?" Isane asked.

"Why are you people so suspicious? I'm sure it's fine and you guys are just paranoid," Tetsuzaemon said, "so if this is all you're going to talk about, I'll take my leave." The lieutenant then flash stepped away.

"Well... he does have a point. Why exactly are you guys so suspicious?" Oemaeda asked as he picked his nose.

"How many of you actually trust Mayuri?" Rukia asked the lieutenants, "And cut that out, Oemada. It's gross!"

None of the lieutenants spoke up as Oemada sighed with disappointment and removed his finger.

"I-It's only because he got away with many questionably legal things when the Central 46 were still alive," Momo said.

"And he _still_ doesn't?" Renji asked with a hint of anger, "Building dangerous weapons is against the law, and Mayuri has done so countless times!"

"So, Shuhei-dear, are you suggesting that one of us request a search warrant for Squad 12?" Rangiku asked.

"Yes," Hisagi said, "One of us needs to do it."

"I will," Momo spoke up, "I've always suspected that Ichimaru was behind Captain Aizen's succession, but maybe it was Mayuri!" she exclaimed as she walked away. Nobody said anything to her as she walked away... they were used to her delusions.

"Well, now that _that's_ out of the way..." Yachiru said as a mischievous grin spread across the face, "...who wants to play a game?"

* * *

"DAAAAMMMMIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!" Mayuri bellowed in frustration as he slammed his hands against a module.

"What's wrong _now?_" Gin asked with a sigh. The former captain was slouched on a chair and obviously bored, as one hand was holding up his head and the other was trying to balance his zanpakuto on it.

"This... _parasite._ It's taking _far_ longer than I want it to!" Mayuri spat.

"Do you _always_ get this grouchy when something doesn't go your way?" asked Ichimaru with a light smile, "My, you must have been a nightmare for your parents."

Mayuri glared daggers at Gin before he turned back to the module, "It's just adding that extra _oomph_ to the parasite is proving to be very... _very_ difficult."

"And that oomph would be...?"

"A way for them to retain flash stepping. That's all I would need. When planning these, I got caught up in the moment and thought that I'd need to alter it even more so they could focus spiritual energy under their feet to hover, but I forgot that you can't do that in the Seireitei. So just a way for them to flash step," explained Mayuri with an unusual calm compared to his earlier anger.

"Well, why didn't you mention that earlier? One of the espada has an ability that might help," Ichimaru said. Mayuri growled at the former captain.

"Why didn't _you_ mention that earlier?" he asked.

"I thought things were going smoothly."

"Going smoothly is not yelling and beating computer terminals! Go, go and get that espada!"

"Right, right... calm down. I'll go get him," Ichimaru sighed as he set down his zanpakuto and opened a garganta. After a few minutes, Gin returned with a rather tall and intimidating dark-skinned espada with the remnants of his hollow mask being a bone necklace and a row of spikes on his head.

"Okay, Zommari, I brought you here just to help our nihilistic little soul reaper friend over here," Ichimaru said as he pointed to Mayuri, "he's trying to destroy the Soul Society by making a parasite to infect the soul reapers and... well, look for yourself," concluded Gin as he pointed at the viewing balcony. Zommari walked over and looked down at the small army of zombies.

"The only problem is that they cannot flash step, so the other soul reapers could easily outrun them. I was thinking your resurrección's abilities would greatly assist our friend here."

"...As long as the arrogant soul reapers are killed, I have no problems," Zommari said as he produced his zanpakuto and took a stance, "Suppress, Brujería..."

* * *

"Will she be okay? She's been gone for a long time..."

That was one of many comments heard in the classroom as the worried students continued to talk amongst themselves.

"She won't be fine. She'd dead, just like how we'll end up," a jackass student said as his equally stupid friends chuckled at the comment. A glare from Ichigo shut them up rather quickly. Well, the two friends of the jackass who spoke.

"Oh, come on, lighten up! How often does your bitch teacher die?" he said with a grin.

"Shut up," Chad said with a tone that indicated there was a wall of water behind the dam that was his stoic demeanor. That shut up the jackass. The students continued to talk until a loud bang on the door made nearly everyone jump in shock.

Through the window in the door they could see Ms. Ochi clutching a bloody wound on her neck as she pounded on the door, mouthing 'let me in.' A few students rushed over and opened the door to let her in. This shocked Ichigo and his friends.

"No, throw her back out!" Ichigo exclaimed.

"What the fuck is this? You tell _me_ to shut up, and you're doing the same goddamn thing!" the jackass from before indignantly exclaimed.

"What's the meaning of this?" Ms. Ochi demanded, despite her bloodied wound, "Why would you say such things?"

"Well... this is the start of a zombie outbreak," Orihime quietly said. She whimpered as the nonbelievers in the classroom either laughed or whispered to themselves while staring at Orihime. Their treatment of her friend angered Tatsuki. She growled as she stood up and walked over to the windows, uncovering them. Her irritation soon became fear and shock as she looked down below.

"Tell me..." she said as the students began to walk towards the windows, "...if zombies don't exist, then tell me what this is."

The view outside was one of complete chaos. There were wrecked cars scattered about and several zombies walking around. The students watched in horror as the zombies overtook a fleeing woman.

"Then..." one student said fearfully as she looked at Ms. Ochi, "...she'll become one?"

"Yeah! And who knows how much of the school has turned?" another student said.

Ms. Ochi suddenly began to violently spasm and cough before she stopped breathing and moving. Nobody rushed to help her... her fate had already been decided.

"W-What do we do?" a scared girl asked.

"We have to throw her back outside," a bold student said as he walked over and began to lift her up.

"Get away from her!" Uryu demanded, but it was too late. Ms. Ochi's eyes flicked open, revealing them to now be a soulless shade of white. She snarled as she turned her head and sank her teeth into the boy's arm. The boy yelled in pain as he dropped the zombified teacher, who quickly chewed and swallowed the flesh before standing up and shuffling towards the panicked student while moaning.

"Everyone, calm down!" Ichigo yelled as the other students began to panic. His attempt to maintain control was futile as the students began to scream and cry and other such things. Things became worse when one student opened the window and jumped out of it. A faint thud could be heard amidst the loud moans from the undead below. The entire class erupted into chaos as the students clamored to get outside the classroom. Several were shoved down and trampled on as the students rushed towards the door, despite the fact that Ms. Ochi and the now-zombified student were next to the door. Ichigo's group watched in fear as they managed to open the door and rushed out. Screams were then heard, showing that the zombies that attacked Ms. Ochi were now nearby. Ichigo and his group were frozen in their tracks. Things just became a lot, lot worse...


	6. Chapter 6: Birth of Death

(A/N: Ah, dark mistress makes an excellent point. Since Kubo does a wonderful job at reminding us of important character traits such as Orihime having no family, I _somehow_ forgot (sarcasm galore). That should be fixed by now, so on with the chapter)

* * *

Necrosis, Chapter 6:

"Everyone, just... stay calm," said Uryu as the zombies slowly began biting and converting the students trying to escape in the chaos. Uyru's voice wasn't exactly one full of confidence and stoicism.

"Yes, perhaps we could if you had a plan to get us out of here!" Ryo exclaimed through clenched teeth as she walked up to the group, "And I'm sorry for doubting you, I just di-"

"Save it for later. Our main concern right now is getting out of here alive and unscathed," Uryu said as he pushed his glasses up to his face, "so Chad will be very important here. I need you to bowl through the crowd before us, okay?"

Chad nodded as he prepared himself.

"Just... don't stop moving, okay? And Ichigo, do you have the 'thing'?" Uryu asked. Ichigo quickly identified what Uryu was inquiring: he wanted to know if he had his Substitute Soul Reaper Badge on hand.

"Sorry, can't say I do," Ichigo sighed.

"Okay, everyone, grab any improvised weapons you can. We're going to be running to the exit, so don't go out of your way to grab something. Move... NOW!"

Chad suddenly bolted forward and began to push all of the zombies out of the way. The other nine quickly ran after Chad before the clearing he created in the horde of zombies closed itself. A loud cacophony of moans greeted them in the hallway.

"Shit! Chad, we need to stop and replan! Get into an empty room!" Ichigo shouted. Chad nodded as he opened a nearby door. They all quickly ran in before Chad closed the door and pushed some desks in front of it.

"Oh hell, oh hell, oh hell..." Tatsuki panted. Most of the girls were ghostly white at this moment, and even the boys were rather pale. Things became worse as the zombified students outside the class began to pound on the door.

"Okay... we just need to ignore them," Mizuiro unhelpfully said, "and think of some way to get out of here safe."

"Then what? The whole city's probably fucked!" Chizuru swore, her voice slowly rising into hysterics, "Where the fuck do we go when we get out?"

"We need to calm down like Uryu said," Orihime piped up as she took a very deep breath. Her teary eyes and shaky speech defied her comment.

"Okay, is there anything we can use in here as a weapon?" Ichigo asked.

"H-How can you be so calm?" Mahana whimpered.

"Adrenaline. It has to be," Michiru responded, "Because I somehow don't feel so scared and I feel lots and lots of adrenaline."

"Everyone, quiet! Orihime's right. We have to calm down and formulate a strategy," Ryo stated.

Uryu nodded, "First, we need some sort of weaponry besides Chad's body. We can't expect to find something deadly around here, so we just need something to keep the zombies at bay. Then we have to decide where we'll go after we get out of here."

"I found some yardsticks..." Ichigo said with a hint of annoyance in his voice, "...and a broom."

"Better than nothing," Chad stated as Ichigo handed out the four yardsticks and the broom.

"Obviously, we need to check up on our parents," Tatsuki said, "but in what order?"

"Orihime has no parents, and we have to check up on Keigo's sister," Chizuru said, her voice now shaky instead of hysterical.

"My dad's a cop," Ryo said, "so he'll have some guns."

After some brief discussion, the group decided to head straight to Ryo's house and then they would head to Mizuho's apartment. From there, they would either split up depending on the zombie concentration.

"...and that's the plan," Uryu said, "everyone got it?" They all nodded, "Okay then. Chad, you know what to do?"

Chad took a deep breath as he moved all of the desks in front of the door save for one. He laid one hand on the desk and one on the doorknob. He quickly threw open the door, picked up the desk, and hurled it into the crowd of undead as hard as he could. He then ran out and turned towards the way to the stairs to the first floor. The other nine quickly followed him. The nine had arranged themselves in a pentagram-like formation: Orihime and Ichigo at the left side, Tatsuki and Ryo at the bottom-left, Mizuiro and Michiru at the bottom-right, Mahana and Chizuru at the right side, Chad at the head, and Uryu behind Chad, but somewhat in the middle.

A girl moaned as she reached towards Orihime, who screamed. Ichigo swung the yardstick in his hand as hard as he could at the girl's head. A satisfying smack was heard as the girl tumbled to the ground from the force of the blow. Tatsuki shoved back every approaching zombie with the broom, while Mizuiro, Mahana, and Uryu took swings at any zombies that got too close. The unarmed people were there to guide to attackers so they wouldn't get separated. All in all, it was a well-developed system, but Uryu hadn't calculated one thing to go wrong...

As they headed down the stairs to the first floor, Chad batted away several zombies in the way as he turned to the left, heading down the hallway that would lead to the entrance of the school. Everyone began to follow, but then Ryo tripped. She yelped as she hit the ground. Mahana and Michiru screamed in fear as Tatsuki held out a hand for Ryo to grab. She did so, but as she began to rise, a downed zombie clutched her foot tightly and sank his teeth into her ankle. Ryo shrieked in pain as she let go of Tatsuki to bat away the zombie, but other undead grabbed Ryo and began to feast.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Michiru yelled through teary eyes as Mizuiro grabbed her arm and drug her back into the group before an undead boy grabbed her. Mahana closed her eyes and bit her lip tightly as Chizuru took her weapon and took over her role. The group tried their hardest to bury their emotions, but they slowly leaked out as Ryo's screams continued. Michiru could do nothing but watch Ryo get overtaken and ripped apart through her teary vision by a group of zombies that, just a few minutes ago, were normal and ordinary students; many of which she was acquainted with. It was all a terrible, horrible nightmare... and the nine of them had to endure all of the pain they just witnessed. There was no time for mourning, for fear, for sorrow... it was do or die. Michiru swallowed her pain as she turned around and continued to run.

* * *

Momo marched up to the main building on the grounds of Squad 12 with a determined look on her face. She headed up to the main door and knocked on it. It opened to reveal a rather meek looking man, who blinked a bit upon seeing the lieutenant.

"Oh... Miss Hinamori... what exactly are you doing here?" the man asked. The tone of his voice made it apparent that he didn't expect Momo to show up.

"We lieutenants have reason to believe that your captain is behind the recent disappearances," Momo stated with a stern look on her face. She reached into her robes and produced a piece of paper, "I have a search warrant issued by Captain Hitsugaya. Let me enter."

The man took the paper and eyed it over, "Hmm... all right, then. Is there anywhere you need to go?"

"Your labs. Mayuri hasn't been outside of them for a while, has he?" Momo asked.

"Right you are. The entrance is down that hall, to the right," the man said as he pointed Momo in the correct direction. Momo slightly bowed as she headed down the hallway. She could feel several of the soul reapers stare at her as they passed her by.

_Come to think of it... I never really see most of Squad 12 outside of this building,_ thought Momo, _do they really stay indoors all day just to research and conduct experiments? No wonder they're all looking at me..._

Feeling uncomfortable by all of the eyes peering at her, Momo sped up her pace as she took a right, soon coming across a large metal door. A small terminal was next to the door, and a fingerprint scanner slid out of the side of the module. Momo placed her index finger on it, and the device made a beep of confirmation as the lock on the metal door undid itself. The door then slid open, revealing a descending staircase into a dimly lit room below.

Her first thought on arriving in the labs was, _Why isn't anybody here?_ The various tables adorned with equipment seemed like they were only just recently used. It was as if something came in and drug away all of the researchers... was it Mayuri?

"Is anybody there?" Momo called out. The fact that her voice echoed throughout the labs was a very good sign that she wasn't going to get a response. She gulped as she took a deep breath to calm herself. "It'll be okay, Momo..." she convinced herself as she began to walk forward. There was a rustling to the left of her, causing her to yelp and unsheathe her zanpakuto. She saw a small rat scurry away in the corner of her eye. She lightly growled, both at the situation and her own jumpiness. She then heard a cry in the distance.

"Hello?" she called out. Again there was no response. She continued to move forward, holding her zanpakuto in front of her. She continued to hear an alteration of sobbing and yells of pain. She followed the source of the noise, entering corridors and making several turns, until she saw a door with a light shining through its window. She stepped in front of it and was horrified at what she saw.

A group of scientists were dissecting... no, _vivisecting_ an innocent man! She watched in horror as the man squirmed and screamed in agony as the scientists removed the man's organs and placed them in a tray for some unknown vile reason. She burst open the door and screamed, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

The scientist looked up at her with a mixture of surprise and confusion as the man they were vivisecting expired. One of them asked, "What do you mean?"

Momo was appalled by how passive this man was, "W-What do I mean? You... you just... YOU'RE MONSTERS!"

A voice could be heard in the near distance yelling, "Is someone there? Please, save us!"

Momo quickly ran forward towards the voice and looked through the window of another door to see several naked people shackled to the wall. They all looked at her with hopeful eyes. The people... they were in horrible condition. Some were barely anything more then a skeleton shrouded with skin, while others had various injuries that were obviously inflicted by the scientists. Momo turned around and looked at the scientists with a look of explosive rage, "EXPLAIN YOURSELVES, **NOW!**"

"Why are you so offended? We were told our actions were approved by Central 46!" the head scientist explained, fear apparent in his voice.

Momo grit her teeth in anger as she slammed a fist against the wall, "Mayuri tricked you all! You've been doing inhuman acts to these people for whatever insane reason he has!"

This took the scientists back. The only woman scientist turned away and removed her mouth cover to vomit. There was a brief period of silence as the scientists slowly realized that everything they had done, all of the experiments they had conducted... they had all been outside the law. None of those people were prisoners, bandits, or the condemned.

"No... how could we have been so easily fooled? Oh, dammit... we've killed so many innocent people," the head scientist said as his eyes teared up.

"Don't worry, you can still save the people you haven't killed!" Momo said, "Rescue the people and go to Yamamoto with evidence of Mayuri's atrocities... I'll go arrest that son of a bitch!"

"Okay..." one scientist said, his voice distant, "...he'd most likely be in the deepest area of the laboratories."

Momo nodded and left the room, confident that the scientists would do the right thing. She began to descend the small staircases throughout the hallways, her face full of anger and determination. It would take all of her will to simply arrest the monster instead of outright killing him, but if she took Mayuri's life, it'd be heading down the road that very madman traveled. She had never trusted the strange captain... she always _knew_ he was hiding something!

And now Momo was face-to-face with an incredibly secure door. She could tell by the advanced terminal next to it that this door would only be accessible by Mayuri... through normal means. She wasn't going to let this door block her from justice.

"Snap, Tobiume!" Momo yelled as her zanpakuto grew several prongs. She channeled her spiritual energy into the blade and unleashed it in a destructive blast that blew a large hole through the thick door. She walked through, ignoring the alarm that was resounding through this new room. She walked forward to only be stopped in her tracks by a sight she never suspected to see.

She was on a balcony-like walkway over a large pit filled with the missing people... but they were no longer normal souls. Their eyes were now a chilling and unfeeling white, and they reached up at Momo with gaping mouths and droning moans. Out of all of them, she saw Nemu... or what was left of her. She felt vomit coming up, but she suppressed it, for her rage at Mayuri increased even further.

"Well, it looks like we have a little rat," Mayuri said. Momo snapped towards him and instantly fired off a blast of energy at the demented captain. She then spun around and parried Mayuri, whom had flash stepped over and behind Momo. Mayuri had silently released Ashisogi Jizo, and one of the outermost blades had settled in between Tobiume's blade and one of its prongs. Momo made an attempt to wrestle Mayuri's sword from his grip, but that was Momo's fatal mistake. Mayuri simply thrust his sword forward and it pierced Momo's right shoulder. She instantly began to feel her entire right side become unresponsive, and that was enough for her sword to drop. Mayuri made a few more jabs at the lieutenant until her body was fully paralyzed except for her head.

Momo could do nothing except wait in fear as Mayuri picked her up and slung her over his shoulder as he walked to the end of the walkway, down some stairs, and into a large room.

"What happened to all of that spunk you had earlier, girl?" Mayuri asked, "For someone so disgusted with me, your zeal seemed to vanish rather quickly."

"You bastard! Unhand me! I... I won't forgive you!" Momo cried out as tears fell from her eyes, "To-Toshiro will save me! Aizen will save me! Just you wait!"

"Not even curious as to how I knew of your disgust? You must _really_ be scared. Well, I'll explain anyways. It's a magical device known as cameras. I tracked your progress as soon as you entered," Mayuri explained as he placed Momo onto a stretcher. He began strapping her to it so that her arms and legs wouldn't be able to move.

_Why is he restraining me when I can't move?_ she thought. She held back her fear as she said, "If you've been following me, then you surely know that Yamamoto will soon know of your crimes! You're finished!"

Mayuri cackled with delight, enraging Momo further, "You think I'm _scared_ of that baboon? Whatever he does won't matter anymore! For you, see, girl, I have won! I have perfected my little weapon you saw down below, and _you_ will be the first improved one!"

Momo eyes widened as she began to cry further. The sick freak was going to turn her into one of those mindless things? She _had_ to get out of here! She had to warn someone! She had to... she had to see Toshiro again and bring Aizen back and ask him why he pretended betraying the Soul Society and...

Her thoughts were interrupted as another man walked into the room. She could sense the familiar spiritual pressure, but she couldn't see the man until Mayuri moved the stretcher so Momo was now upright. The devilish fox grin of the silver-haired traitor Ichimaru greeted her.

"Why, Mayuri is ever so right. Ol' Yama doesn't have a chance, nor does the Soul Society. Everyone you love and know will perish today. And _you_ will start it. _You_ will be the agent of destruction!" Gin exclaimed with a sick smile. Momo was suddenly overtaken with immense rage at the presence and words of the man. She began to thrash about, futilely attempting to break out of her restraints. Mayuri was shocked that she had been able to overcome his paralysis that easily, but he continued to watch.

"YOU! YOU... FUCKING SON OF A BITCH! YOU MANIPULATED AIZEN, DIDN'T YOU!? YOU MADE HIM BETRAY US!" Momo shrieked at Ichimaru. Somehow his grin became even wider as his eyes opened up. Her struggles instantly ceased as the hopelessness of her situation suddenly dawned upon her. It was as if seeing Ichimaru's eyes was a sign of doom. Tears began to pour down her face as all of her rage converted into fear. Fear that she had never felt before in her life.

"Well done, you've found me out," Gin said in a cold and sinister voice that was very different from his usual polite voice with a sarcastic and disrespectful tone, "out of all of the soul reapers, you were the only one who saw through everything. Yes, it was I who tricked Aizen and Tosen to betray the Soul Society, and even Mayuri has decided to join us. And now you'll follow in their footsteps, but in a different manner."

Momo began shaking with fear as all of her suspicions were confirmed. She knew how everyone in the Soul Society denied her claims that Aizen was being controlled, but she was just told the truth! She hated it when everyone treated her as if she was insane, that she couldn't let Aizen go, especially when Hitsugaya did so. And now... she was completely helpless. She was going to be made into one of those monsters that ate others and made the bitten like them - she just knew that was what happened by the look of Nemu. She was going to become one, and she would be sent out into the Soul Society.

Mayuri reached into his haori and pulled out a small, wriggling worm-like creature. He sadistically smiled as he slowly walked over to Momo. Momo was even more scared now, as impossible as it seemed. That small worm was all it took to make her a soulless tool to destroy the Soul Society. She wouldn't be able to warn anybody. She would be used; she would cause everyone's deaths.

Mayuri dropped the worm-like creature. Momo squirmed as the thing slowly crawled up her neck. It dawned upon her that these were her last moments. The worm would enter her ear and seize control of her brain, turning her into a monster, all while those two sick freaks watched. Those sick freaks that she wanted to kill in the most vile ways, but she couldn't because she couldn't move because of the restraints and now the worm was against her chin and she realized that this was the end and that she would never see Hitsugaya again but he might see her as a monster and she might attack him and turn him into a monster and that might also happen to her other friends and the worm was now on her ear and she would never get to marry Aizen or save him from Ichimaru and that she would never ever see the animals or flowers or sunshine again and the worm was now burrowing into her ear _oh god make it stop why couldn't I have died in another way or been able to kill myself without my body still being used and why did everything turn out this way I'm so scared I need Hitsugaya or Aizen but it'll never happen and nothing is going to save me it's now in my head get it out of my head get it out of my head get it out get it out get it out getitoutgetitoutgetitoutohpleasegodsavemefromthishellwhywon'tyouhelpm-_

Momo made a spasm as her body suddenly became limp. She had died, but she would not be still for long.

"Why did you lie to her about Aizen and Tosen, Gin?" Mayuri asked, "In her final moments, when she was already full of despair... you lied to her."

"Oh come now, Mayuri, don't tell me you're getting soft," Ichimaru said, his eyes now closed and his voice back to its normal self.

Mayuri was about to say something, but seeing Momo stir in the corner of his eye averted his attention towards the deceased lieutenant. She was making small spasms before her eyes slowly opened, showing that they were now a blank white. Even though she had no irises or pupils, Mayuri could tell that the zombified girl was looking straight at him. A ghastly roar came from Momo's mouth as she began to thrash about with incredible ferocity that a normal zombie would be incapable of. Mayuri's eyes widened as his mouth turned into a smile.

"IT'S A SUCCESS!" he cried out triumphantly. This was it! With this girl would come the downfall of the Soul Society!

* * *

The doors of the head captain's office burst open. Shunsui and Jushiro entered, accompanied by two scientists from Squad 12. One of them, a woman, was actively weeping, and the other, a man, retained a formal composure, but his face showed signs of immense pain. Jushiro and Shunsui had grim looks on their faces.

"What is the meaning of this?" Yamamoto commanded in typical fashion, "Why do you barge into my office without making an arrangement?"

"Sir, with all due respect... Mayuri has betrayed us," Jushiro said calmly.

"What!?! Explain yourselves!" he demanded as he slammed his cane against the ground.

"Our captain... ex-captain," the male scientist began, "...has lied to us. We've shamefully performed thousands of inhumane experiments on what we thought were prisoners, but were actually innocents. Mayuri told us that Central 46 approved the experiments, but Lieutenant Hinamori told us of Mayuri's lies."

"Where is the proof of these wild accusations?" Yamamoto asked. The weeping woman reached into her robes and produced a disk, which she handed to Shunsui. Shunsui walked up and gave it to Yamamoto, who swiftly placed it into a computer terminal. He began to read some of the documents in the files before turning back towards his audience.

"...Yes, it does appear that Mayuri is guilty of inhumane acts against innocents," Yamamoto said gravely, "I never suspected that our finest scientist would turn against us like this."

"Maybe you should follow proof more often," Shunsui said with a light smile on his face.

Jushiro glared at Shunsui, "This is hardly the time to poke fun," he said sternly. Shunsui sighed and apologized.

"Wait... you said Lieutenant Hinamori revealed to you the truth. Where is she now? I approved of her search warrant, but where is she?" Yamamoto asked.

"Yes, where is she?" Jushiro asked with an urgent tone in his voice.

The male scientist paled, "S-she... she said she was going to deal with Mayuri!"

"What!?!" Yamamoto, Shunsui, and Jushiro collectively said.

"She's insane if she thinks she can defeat a rogue captain!" Jushiro added.

"There is no doubt that Mayuri has been behind the disappearances of late! It seems his stealth in kidnapping innocents in the Rukongai has failed this time. I hereby decree that Mayuri is now stripped of his position and he is now a top-priority threat to the Soul Society!" Yamamoto declared, "Shunsui, Jushiro, quickly! Go rescue Hinamori before she's in grave danger!"

Shunsui and Jushiro nodded, and flash stepped towards Squad 12, completely unaware of Momo's fate...


End file.
